Community News

UO Herald: The Yew Times – A Newspaper for Sosaria

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A new feature has started up on the UO website, “The Yew Times – A Newspaper for Sosaria”, and it’s quite humorous. I’m not going to repeat the entire edition – you can find the link and a few examples below.

It is nice to see this kind of thing – it may seem like a small thing, but it’s one of those things that helps flesh out the UO world and community.

Examples – Articles:

Accidental Tourist Takes Trip to Distant Lands
The mystery of items disappearing from containers may finally be resolved. Dread Lord Popeye reported that he had been consistently experiencing missing items from his home and pinpointed the loss to an armoir on an upper floor of his tower. While further investigating, he somehow passed through the back of the armoir into a snowy landscape, where he soon encountered, in his own words “a female RPer Ice-queen and a midget in a sled” who tried to alternately bribe him with candy and intimidate him. Popeye claimed that he became suspicious of their behavior and insisted upon searching the back of the sleigh for his missing belongings, causing the “midget” to issue threats and becoming quite annoying. Lord Popeye was disappointed that it only took two flamestrikes to take out the both of them, and that his belongings were nowhere to be found. Popeye pointed out that if lightweight RPers are going to play by Fel rules, they should have at least some decent gear.

Examples – the Horoscope:

The Peddler-January
Good luck is on your side today, because you’re tapped into a sense of higher purpose… jacking up the prices on your Luna vendors.

The Mongbat-February
People will be watching you more in the following days…most often at the bank..pointing at your crappy armor.

The Phoenix-March
Remember. Others admire a person who is straightforward and genuine. Work on faking those qualities and you’ll earn tons of respect.

The Sea Dragon-April
Today is a good time to be bold and take chances. See that thing over there? Go poke it with a stick.

The Hermit-May
Try to make it a point to improve your memory skills or write things down more often. All your plants are dead.

Full Article: The Yew Times – A Newspaper for Sosaria

Establishment Spotlight: Tel’Mithrim / Tel’Ruid – Lake Superior

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It’s been far too long since I did a player-run establishment spotlight – Windamere Keep was the first and only proper one.

I was doing a bunch of wandering tonight, and came upon The Silver Arrow, one of the centerpieces in the player town of Tel’Ruid, a player village founded by Tel’Mithrim, a guild of UO players that actually predates UO by several years.

It’s interesting that as UO celebrates its 15th year this year, Tel’Mithrim is celebrating their 20th year as a guild. They are probably the oldest guild in existence in the world, since their history stretches back to their founding in August of 1992, when they were established as The Grey Company, a role-playing guild in Neverwinter Nights. Neverwinter Nights was a multiplayer game played through America Online…not quite the MMORPGs we are used to today.

In December of 1993, they were named as the largest and most successful guild in Neverwinter Nights, and in 1995 they were merged with two smaller Elven-oriented guilds, LER and the Elven Brotherhood, bringing the membership to around 60. Ironically, shortly before Ultima Online officially launched, Neverwinter Nights was shut down by America Online. This was a mixed blessing as the guild successfully made the transition to UO, although some were unable to. They settled in Yew, on Lake Superior, and have been there ever since, making the transition to Trammel when it opened up.

I’ve been through this area many times, and used to even spend a lot of time in-game with quite a few members several years back, going back to I believe 1998 or 1999. I’m pleased to see them still there east of Yew.

The Silver Arrow:
Ultima Online Establishment Spotlight - Lake Superior - Tel'Ruid
(Click on the image for a larger version)

A description from their own website:
Tel’Ruid is a village governed by Tel’Mithrim, a guild comprised of Elves on the shard of Lake Superior. It is a small, but close-knit community of several dozen individuals, all of whom share the Elves’ general values. Located deep in the forests east of Yew, the village is a safe haven away from the crowded cities of Britannia.

There are actually multiple houses related to Tel’Mithrim/The Grey Company, and in fact some are designed to overlap/”connect” in a way that makes multiple houses look like a single home.

Tel’Mithrim Hall
Ultima Online Establishment Spotlight - Lake Superior - Tel'Ruid

Really, you should just visit the area and wander around the water, as I know I’m missing houses related to Tel’Mithrim

Location:
* Silver Arrow: 75.50’N and 7.31’W (East of Yew)
* Tel’Mithrim Hall (74.42’N and 4.30’W
* Other buildings: 79.11′ N and 7.52’W, and 85.46’N and 4.13’W
* Near the Shrine of Justice

One of the best-looking dual-houses on LS:
Ultima Online Establishment Spotlight - Lake Superior - Tel'Ruid

Houses in the area (not all are related to Tel’Ruid):
* The Silver Arrow (Tel’Mithrim)
* Tel’Mithrim Hall (Galethien Elvade)
* TLC Embassy (Maggie Stweart)
* Shrine of Remembrance (TirNaNo’g)
* The Salty Daemon Mall in Tel’Ruid (The Daemon Co-Op)
* TGC Smithy (Valdolen)
* High Councilor, 8th Seat (Jerard Slasher)
* The Museum of Sosari [Tel’Ruid’ (TirNaNo’g)
* Thierna-No-Pge (Tel’Ruid) (TirNaNo’g)
* Ap Nudd Family (Tylwyth Ap Nudd)
* TGC Smith (Luthien Tinuviel)
* Nalynn’s Bows (Nalynn)
* Ariana’s Little Tel’Ruid House (Ariana)
* Mardraug (Thrand Graywolf)

Other nearby houses not related
* Dis Here Troll House, Pointy Ears Welcome (Thor Ironside)

Related Websites:
* The Grey Company (Tel’Mithrim) (main guild website)
* History and Introduction

12 Topics That Would Make a Proper Producer’s Letter

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In no particular order, the following is a list of questions I’d like to see the UO/Ultima Franchise Producer answer. To me, the following questions would provide an excellent producer’s letter, not the watered down producer’s letters that we get in reality. You know, the ones that pass through layers of bureacracy and only reveal a handful of new things that could be handled in one, and at most, two publishes.

Answers to them would provide us more of an insight to the future of UO than what we currently get.

You maybe surprised, but I’m not going to get into in-game mechanics or other aspects related directly to the game, although some of the topics below certainly tie into it. I’m trying to look at the bigger picture, and not what’s in the next publish or two.

I’m not even going to mention the high resolution artwork update. Well, I just did, but I believe it’s happening and I believe Jeff Skalski when he says it’s important to UO’s future, so I don’t have much to say, other than it sounds like they need more artists/developers to help.

#1 Community Relations
If you can request a half a dozen Event Moderators from the UO community to put in 20 hours a month, why can’t you request half a dozen UO players to put in 20 hours a month putting together stories for the UO Herald/UO.com?

If you can ask for people to run in-game events, you can ask for people to contribute to the Herald/UO.com. I would shut down this website or give it to somebody else, and gladly work on the Herald/UO.com, highlighting player resources, community news, fixing broken links, etc., and I know I’m not the only one.

Boosting community relations is one of the cheapest and most effective things a company can do for a game. Twitter, Facebook, these are tools to supplement, not replace, community relations. Third party websites are things that supplement, not replace, official community relations as well. Like it or not, it’s also a sign of how well a game is supported. Right now, UO’s community relations and website would not instill much confidence in new or returning players.

#2 BioWare’s Public Dedication to UO (or lack thereof)
If BioWare is as dedicated to UO as they claim, why haven’t we seen a new hire or two or why don’t we see more public support from BioWare for UO? It’s quite clear from where I sit that UO could use more resources. You would barely know UO exists from looking at BioWare.com. An Electronic Arts Vice President, the man who is over BioWAre and other EA labels, claimed that UO was “widely profitable”. The man who runs BioWare Mythic claims that he’s proud to be head of the studio that runs UO.

These people are in a position to do something to help UO out. If UO is “widely profitable” and if the head of BioWare Mythic is so proud of UO, then why don’t things reflect that? Why aren’t the profits being plugged back into UO to make it a better game and bring in more players? Why is UO barely even mentioned on BioWare.com?

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UO Team is Looking for Houses up Longer than 10 Years

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Once again, something that should be on the UO Herald, is of course not on the UO Herald.

We already had the unannounced 14-day renewal bonus that ended today.

Now we’ve got a thread up on Stratics, where Petra Fyde explains that the UO team is looking for people whose houses are 10 years or older:

Calling all house owners!

Do you have a house that is 10 years old or more? We, in collaboration with the UO Team, want to locate them all.

Mesanna is asking for Vet Houses to step right up! Submit your house information if you have a house placed for 10+yrs to receive in game recognition of your accomplishments!

Fill in our simple form and tell us about it. Where is it? Shard, facet, co-ordinates. Find these with a sextant if you need to. Tell your friends too, we want to find every home 10 years and older on all shards. Help us find them all, Mesanna is counting on us!

Find the ‘information’ page on the house sign, enter the date in the same format as it is shown on the sign

There are a lot of people who do not follow UO-related forums for one reason or another. Come to think of it, they probably don’t follow the Herald, for that matter, but that’s beside the point.

This isn’t a dig on Stratics either, this is a dig on the at times non-existent UO community relations team. In the old days, these kinds of things would be mentioned on UO.com, because that’s the official website for communications. It should also be in the client login screen.

If the Herald was actually updated with this kind of stuff, more people might start following it.

Openings for Japanese-Speaking Event Moderators

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Do you speak Japanese with at least a little bit of English, have 20 hours a month to devote to UO in a role that has nothing to do with your current accounts, and are you outgoing and creative?

If so, they are looking to add 6 players to the Japanese Event Moderator team. Details below.

Greetings everyone,

We are looking for 6 players that are creative, outgoing, and love to make events come to life on Japanese shards. These positions require you to be 18 years of age, and able to put in 20 hours a month. A small amount of English is a must to be able to communicate with the team. If you are interested in being a part of the Event Moderator team; please fill out the following application and return it to barmstrong AT ea.com.

Name:
Age:
Shard/shards you play on:
What language (s) do you speak?
Account names (no passwords please):
How long have you played UO:
Have you ever been a volunteer or worked with EA before?
What type of character do you like to play?
If you could change anything about UO what would it be?
Where do you buy bananas? (sorry couldn’t resist)
Has any of your accounts ever been suspended, if so what was the reason?
Write a short event that you would like to run on a shard, include the type of decoration and reward you would like to give.

Please remember you are not allowed to EM on the shard you play on.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Source: UO Herald